Underland Chronicles: 1 - The Border's Edge (A Gregor the Overlander FanFic)

Chapter 9

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Pandora resisted the urge to hit her forehead with her hand.

"What?" Pan asked.

"I have a bag in my room. Will you come with me so I can get it?"

"Of course," Pan said.

Pandora thought she knew the way to her temporary bedroom, but she turned a wrong way in a corridor and Pan redirected her to the right one.

"How do you know where I'm staying?" she asked him, not recalling telling him where her room was.

"They have extra quarters in a certain hallway. I just assumed they put you into one of those," he answered.

"You're right," she replied. "There's my room right there."

She went inside and quickly retrieved the bright yellow children's backpack. Swinging it onto her back, Pan and Pandora started to walk back down the corridor.

In a few minutes, they had made it to the balcony in the High Hall, where all of the bats Pandora saw leave the palace. As they neared the railing to depart, a man limped up to them. "Ah, the Overlander!" he called.

"Uh..." Pandora stammered, not really knowing what to say to the hobbling stranger. "Hi." She noticed he had a prosthetic leg made from leather and some kind of hard, white material that was attached just below his hip.

"I haven't yet had a chance to meet you," he said warmly and with a smile. "What is your name?"

"Pandora," she replied. He seemed to mull over the name for a moment, his smile as wide as ever, although his eyes became more solemn. "What's yours?"

"Oh, of course," he replied. "I am called Mareth."

"Mareth," Pandora said. "That's a nice name."

"Thank you. May I ask where you are going?"

Pandora faltered for a moment, and then Pan spoke up. "I am taking her to the arena."

"Oh?" Mareth replied.

"Yes," Pan said with confidence. "She wanted to view it again now that she has more stock with the Underland creatures. I told her how it is most impressive, and she should visit it again."

"Is that so?" Mareth said. Pan gave a nod. "I see you have found your way to the Overland Museum," he added, looking at Pandora's brightly colored backpack.

"Uh, yeah... I have," Pandora said hesitantly. Mareth's demeanor made her nervous about lying to him. She knew she shouldn't say too much, for fear of blowing the whole secret mission wide open. "Howard showed it to me. It's pretty cool down there," she tried to smile, but stopped before it gave away her nervousness.

"Yes, it is quite interesting down there. The Overland items always strike me as... impressive."

"Sure... yeah," she replied. "Well, we should really get going... right Pan?" She turned towards him and tried to communicate with her eyes that he should help her wrap up the conversation with Mareth.

It turned out Pan didn't need to. "I really should be on my way," Mareth said. "It was nice to meet you, Pandora."

His sweet smile made Pandora want to spill out the truth as to where they were going, but she fought the urge. Instead she plastered a smile to her face, hoping it looked genuine, and said, "It was nice to meet you, too, Mareth."